As Dearborn’s Reminisce Day inches closer, the Dearborn Betterment Committee, a group that is under the umbrella of the Northern Platte County Area Chamber of Commerce, is putting the final touches on the festival, which will be from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 25.
This will be the fourth year for the event, which will feature a parade of classic cars and tractors at 11 a.m., plus a classic car show, face painting, funnel cakes, food trucks, vendor booths, and a corn hole competition with cash prizes.
When the chairman of the Betterment Committee, Elaine Greer and her husband bought the Switch Track Mall in 2017 in Dearborn, she decided to get involved with the Betterment Committee so she could be more involved in the things happening in the community.
When she and her husband took over the Switch Track Mall, their goal was to help keep the town more alive.
“I was fortunate enough to have a cousin that had an HO gauge model train in his basement and thought it would be great to have it where other people could enjoy seeing it as my family did,” Greer said. “Dearborn, as other little towns, was founded on the railroad, so what better place to bring it. A good friend of ours that had model trains of his own, helped us move the display to 201 Main which is where Switch Track Mall is located.”
Greer said she likes to celebrate people while they are alive so other people can celebrate with them, so she and the Betterment Committee came up with the idea of Reminisce Day, since Dearborn has a lot of interesting things in its past to celebrate.
“We decided to set the date for Reminisce Day to be the fourth Saturday in September each year to work around all the other events in the area,” Greer said. “We welcome local and area vendors for the day, and the parade is made up of clubs, cars clubs, motorcycles, bicycles, horses, tractors, and of course our present and past honorees. The parade this year will begin at the school and start at 11 a.m.”
The first year, Lu Durham was celebrated. She had lived in the house in which she was born, was a walking historian and knew lots of the happenings in Dearborn. She was a school teacher that had taught many of the citizens in the surrounding area. She also was an influential woman who had sought a museum in Dearborn.
The second year, the Cassity Bus Company was honored. They had served the North Platte School District with buses for more than 65 years and are still in operation.
The third year, Nash Gas Company was honored. They have served the community for 75 years with their family business in Dearborn.
This year, Dearborn resident, Louis Buntin, will be honored. He has served the community as a teacher, principal, and on the board of aldermen. He was also influential in starting the first housing development in Dearborn.
When Buntin heard he would be honored at the festival this year, he said he was very humbled by the announcement.
He had retired in 1973, but in 1974 he was asked to become the interim superintendent of the school in Dearborn after the then superintendent was diagnosed with highly progressive cancer. In 1978 he became principal in Edgerton and he was assigned to Camden Point in 1984. After he retired from administration in 1993, he worked for Missouri Western State University in St. Joseph, in the education department, until 2001.
Buntin then went home to Dearborn and served on the school board for two terms, the board of aldermen three times, in the 1970s, the 1990s and in the early 2000s. He also served on the Platte County Parks and Recreation Board.
Three nights a week were devoted to his service on the three boards.
In 1989, he and his brother-in-law developed five acres and turned it into two cul de sacs with 20 lots and 12 homes.
“I tried to help wherever I could,” Buntin said.
After 52 years in Dearborn, he is still eager to help his city thrive.
“I’m looking forward to Reminisce Day and honored and humbled,” Buntin said. I’m not sure that I did anything much more than anyone else around here, but I’m grateful for the honor.”
The Dearborn Betterment Committee plans to do many different things to improve the town and local area. Surveys have been taken to see what the citizens would like to see happen, and at present, plans continue throughout the year to work on present and future projects.
“An ongoing project that has begun, is having a veterans’ memorial enlarged and moved to the front of the existing Community Center,” Greer said. “We have a small memorial which has no names and we plan to have a large granite stone and have names engraved on it. The granite has been ordered and people can donate towards this item. They can donate at the Nodaway Valley Bank. To have a name engraved it is $150, but all donations are welcome and needed to bring the granite in and make the memorial attractive. Come out Saturday, Sept. 25, and enjoy the food, funnel cakes, baked goods, parade, and visit the museum which will be open, and be with the present and past honorees in Dearborn.”